(KMDL-FM) National Hurricane Center forecasters are currently monitoring two areas of concern in the tropical Atlantic Basin. One of those is the remnants of Tropical Storm Dolly, which could be a player in the Gulf. The other is an area of low pressure centered near the Mouth of the Mississippi River, which will affect Louisiana and the northern Gulf Coast over the next 48 hours.
Tropical Low Already Producing Showers, Storms Along the Gulf Coast
That system has already produced showers and storms along the northern Gulf. The fact that the system is centered so close to the Louisiana coastline is cause for concern and, if we’re honest, not a bad thing at all for a couple of reasons.
This could be a case of Good News/Better News for the I-10 corridor as we move into the new work and school week ahead of the Labor Day Holiday. Forecasters with the NHC do not give the system much of a chance of strengthening, even over the next seven days.
The current guidance suggests only a 20% probability of something more than “an area of disturbed weather”. But there is still enough warm water in the Gulf, and conditions could change, especially if the system drifts further south over water than its forecast track, which keeps it close to or actually on shore.
Over the next two days, the Weather Prediction Center has much of southern Louisiana at risk for heavy downpours and “excessive rainfall”. The excessive rainfall refers to a storm that creates rainfall rates that overwhelm municipal drainage systems for a short period of time. The outlook does not suggest widespread flooding caused by copious rainfall totals…